The 160 people who no longer work at LivingSocial’s D.C. offices first heard about the layoffs from reading the news, says one person who was laid off by the daily deals company today.

The D.C.-based daily deals company LivingSocial is cutting its worldwide payroll by roughly 400 jobs, including about 160 who work in its six offices spread across Washington.

The District is protected from the job cuts at LivingSocial that began quietly last night and are expected to continue today, a spokesman for Mayor Vince Gray told DCist.

The D.C.-based daily deals company lost a lot of money in the third quarter of 2012, but the company’s CEO isn’t worried.

After the D.C. Council gave its unanimous consent to advance a bill that will give daily deal giant LivingSocial a $32.5 million tax abatement, the company’s spokesman said it has every intention of living up to its end of the bargain.

Although we occasionally knocked it in the past, it’s a bit unfortunate to see that SocialStudiesDC, the lifestyle blog maintained by a group of LivingSocial staffers, is shutting down after about a year in operation.

Mayor Vince Gray is proposing a revamp of the District’s tax incentives for technology companies that would save LivingSocial $32.5 million between 2015 and 2020 in an effort to keep the comapny based in D.C.